Our Story

The Perseus Books Group is an independent company committed to enabling independent publishers to reach their potential. Perseus-owned imprints include Avalon Travel, Basic Books, Da Capo Press, Lifelong Books, PublicAffairs, Running Press, Seal Press, and Westview Press. Perseus partnerships include Nation Books, as well as joint ventures with Weinstein Books and The Daily Beast.

New York

Headquarters

250 West 57th Street,15th FloorNew York, NY 10107

Publishers Group Worldwide

841 Broadway4th FloorNew York, NY 10003

Philadelphia

2300 Chestnut St.Suite 200Philadelphia, PA 19103

Boston

44 Farnsworth Street,3rd FloorBoston, MA 02210

Jackson

1094 Flex DriveJackson, TN 38301

Boulder

2465 Central AvenueBoulder, CO 80301

Berkeley

1700 Fourth StreetBerkeley, CA 94710

Chicago

814 William St.River Forest, IL 60305

Minneapolis

The Keg House34 13th Avenue NEMinneapolis, MN 55413

London

69-70 Temple Chambers3-7 Temple AvenueLondon, EC4Y 0HP, UK

Perseus has 650 employees located in 9 offices in Berkeley, Boston, Boulder, Chicago, Jackson, London, Minneapolis, New York, and Philadelphia. Our employees are a who’s who of experienced book people and functional experts collaborating across genres, time zones and continents to get great books in the hands of influencers, retailers, and readers worldwide.

Perseus has a legacy of publishing successful, important, breakthrough and award-winning titles. Perseus publishes prize-winning authors, like Nobel Peace Prize winners Muhammed Yunus (author of Banker to the Poor) and Leymah Gbowee (author of Mighty Be Our Powers). Pulitzer Prize winning books we have published include Godel Escher Bach by Douglas Hofstadter and A Problem from Hell by Samantha Power. Winners of the National Book Award include Robert Nozick for the classic Anarchy State and Utopia, Silvano Arieti for The Interpretation of Schizophrenia, Freedom by Orlando Patterson, Summer for the Gods by Edward J. Larson, and The Social Transformation of American Medicine, by Paul Starr.

Perseus imprints have published countless New York Times Bestsellers. Highlights include Skinny Bitch from Running Press, Friday Night Lights from Da Capo Press, Waiting for Superman from PublicAffairs, Rick Steves’ Europe Through the Back Door from Avalon Travel, Death and Life of the Great American School System from Basic Books, Knowing your Value from Weinstein Books, and Blackwater from Nation Books.

Perseus is also a leading provider of sales, marketing, and distributionthrough its owned services companies. Consortium, Legato, Perseus Distribution and Publishers Group West serve over 350 notable and varied independent publishers such as Akashic Books, Bellvue Literary Press, BenBella Books, Chouette, City Lights, Columbia University Press, Copper Canyon Press, ECW Press, Frommer’s, Grove Atlantic, Harvard Business Press, McSweeney’s, New World Library , Nomad Press, Theatre Communications Group and Zagat, to name a few.

Perseus has built the leading digital platform in the industry – Constellation – providing the most complete digital offering available to over 450 publishers in both North America and beyond (including over 100 publishers worldwide via Faber Factory Powered by Constellation– a joint venture with Faber & Faber). Constellation services include digital conversion, digital sales and distribution, digital print, marketing, analytics and more.

The Perseus Books Group is proud of its work furthering its mission to serve independent publishers.

Distribution Companies

About Our Sales and Distribution Companies
Perseus has put together an unparalleled group of publishing services companies focused on sales and distribution of books, both physical and digital, with worldwide reach. Each has unique strengths and focus, and all rest on a powerful, shared Perseus platform that includes our 1M+ square foot warehouse in Jackson, TN, a leading-edge Digital Services group based in Boulder CO, and a large and deeply experienced sales team located everywhere. The shared Perseus platform also includes in-house customer service, order entry, credit and collections, digital printing services, academic and library marketing, integrated reporting, and much more. The combination of deep expertise and personal attention with world-class, at-scale capabilities make us exceptional business partners for independent publishers.

Consortium grew out of a book wholesaling cooperative established in the Twin Cities in 1985, to become a respected full-service distributor for independent publishers. Consortium is celebrated for its passion, hands-on service and close-knit group of over 90 publisher clients. While serving a broad range of genres, they have deep expertise in politics, history, social studies, theatre, GLBT, art and design, sustainability, literature and poetry. Notable titles include Go the F*%# to Sleep, Tinkers, and August Osage County. Find out more.

Based in Chicago, Legato Publishers Group was launched in 2013 as a boutique publisher services organization with a select and small group of clients. Legato provides a unique set of highly attentive strategic, sales, marketing, and distribution services to clients, including Chouette, ECW and Nomad, who appreciate the combination of focus and scale that Legato brings to their business. Find out more.

Based in New York City, Perseus Distribution has been serving independent publishers since 1999. Perseus Distribution offers customized solutions to over 35 publishers whose size, uniqueness, and strategy require a more flexible approach to sales and distribution. We have helped many publishers establish New York Times Bestsellers including Harvard Business Review Press, Hazelden, Regnery, The New Press and BenBella. Find out more.

Launching in 2015, Perseus Academic is being developed specifically to meet the needs of university and academic presses. As an affiliate of Perseus Distribution, it will share the same core service options but they will be further customized for the academic space. Princeton University Press, University of California Press and Columbia University Press are among the initial group of clients in this division.

Established in 1976, Publishers Group West (PGW) represents over 100 independent publishers, and provides complete publisher services. Headquartered in Berkeley California, PGW is renowned for leadership, experience, and expertise across a wide range of genres including literary fiction, serious nonfiction, travel, self-help and personal growth, natural health, business, children’s books, gay and lesbian interest, popular and counter-culture, and audio books. Major bestsellers include The Power of Now, StrengthsFinder 2.0 and Cold Mountain. Find out more.

Based in London, Faber Factory Powered by Constellation (FFPC) is a comprehensive digital service which works with over 100 publishers in the UK, Ireland, Australia and South Africa. In March 2013, FFPC received recognition of its services to independent publishers at the IPG awards. The judges praised it for having “consistently provided an efficient, friendly and powerful service, so that independents can stay at the forefront of digital publishing and reap the rewards of collective representation with retailers.”

Argo Navis is the only distribution and marketing service for established authors offered via multiple leading agents. Argo Navis is designed for professional authors acting as publishers, who control the e-book rights to their reverted or not-in-print works. Built on the Constellation platform, Argo Navis helps authors navigate the new opportunities for these works made possible by the new digital marketplace. Authors, agents and Perseus Constellation work in concert in this service, which was named for the constellation Argo Navis, formed, according to the story, from three parts (sail, deck and keel) of the famed ship the Argo, sailed into history by Jason.

For Professors

PerseusAcademic.com features core textbooks, supplements, and course-appropriate general interest books from member publishers and client publishers of the Perseus Books Group. Professors can place exam or desk copy orders through this website.

For Librarians

Visit The Daily Pretzel, our blog for librarians, and sign up for our monthly newsletters to learn about great new releases from Perseus imprints and our distributed publishers.

For Booksellers

Tools & Resources

Catalogs

FAQ

News

Stars of Friday Night Lights reunite to relive their story 25 years later

Twenty-five years after the H.G. Bissinger best seller was released, stars of the 1988 Permian Panthers football team reunite to relive the 'Friday Night Lights'. Read more

Friday Night Lights Author to Publish Anniversary Edition

When Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream first hit store shelves in 1990, the Texas town featured in the 432-page book was so incensed over the portrayal of itself and its football team that death threats came to the author H.G. "Buzz" Bissenger... Read more

Burgess Lea Press Celebrates Great Food, Supports Good Works

Buz Teacher and Janet Bukovinsky Teacher announce their new publishing venture, Burgess Lea Press... The company will have a unique joint venture relationship with Running Press, the imprint of The Perseus Books Group originally co-founded by Buz Teacher in 1972. Read more

Perseus Books Group Announce Partnership with Turner Classic Movies

The Perseus Books Group today announced a global partnership with Turner Classic Movies (TCM) for a series of books inspired by the greatest movies from the origins of cinema to today. To be published by Running Press, the initiative will launch in Fall 2015. Read more

Perseus Academic Signs The Brookings Institution as New Distribution Client

Perseus Academic, a recently established division of the Perseus Books Group dedicated to serving university and academic presses, and The Brookings Institution announced that they have entered into a sales and distribution agreement for both print and digital books... Read more

Submission Guidelines

Thank you for your interest in the Perseus Books Group. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts or book proposals. Please be aware that if you send us any unsolicited materials, they will not be returned to you.

In general, we recommend that you visit your public library for sources that can direct you in preparing a proposal and locating an appropriate agent and/or publisher. Two books you might find helpful are The Literary Marketplace by R.R. Bowker, and the current edition of The Writer’s Market.